"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each other’s burdens, easing others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holidays."

- W. C. Jones

Though the holiday season is a wonderful time, holiday travel can sometimes be a little less than merry. You make a solid plan, but then things happen beyond your control: maybe your plane gets delayed or luggage misplaced, or perhaps your in-laws show up at your door unannounced. Similarly, with investing, market declines and gains often happen when we least expect them. This unpredictability highlights the importance of being diversified and measured in your response to the unexpected. Being flexible while rolling with the punches is the art of being a patient and smart investor. Enjoy your planned (and unplanned) experiences this season. Thank you for letting me be part of your journey. Happy holidays to you and yours!

When markets drop it may be tempting to make changes to your portfolio. But this chart shows what happened over the past 10 years to those who stayed invested during the Great Recession, those who got out of the market for a year, and those who panicked and went to cash. This is a valuable lesson for investors about how financial markets have tended to reward long-term investors. We can’t control what markets will do, but we can control our reactions.

These astute questions for experienced and novice investors alike illuminate the importance of diversification, tuning out unhelpful media “noise” and managing investment costs as well as investor behavior through the inevitable ups and downs of the stock market.

For a successful hike, you need quality equipment and training to improve your stamina while planning for the unexpected. That sounds a lot like good financial planning, and your continued focus and dedication can ultimately help you reach your “peak” goals. You may recognize some of this from last month's video post.

In this season of giving, it’s easy to get caught up in our “wants.” But teaching your kids or grandkids about the virtues of delayed gratification, while empowering them to make their own spending decisions, is key to a healthy financial life as an adult. And showing them how to value experiences over stuff can be an enduring and precious “gift.”